“That’s just what I think, mother!—Why?”
“I don’t!” returned Mrs. Tuke—and
there she paused: another step might bring her
to the edge of the gulf!
Richard looked at her moodily for a moment, then turned
away to the workshop; where, after his ill success
with his mother, he was hardly less disinclined to
challenge his father than before, for he knew him
inexpugnable.
MORTGRANGE.
In the spring came a letter from young Lestrange,
through Simon Armour, asking Richard upon what terms
he would undertake the work wanted in the library.
He handed the letter to his father, and they held
a consultation.
“There’s this to be considered,”
said the bookbinder, “that, if you go there,
you lose your connection here—in a measure,
at least. Therefore you cannot do the work at
the same rate as in your own shop.”
“On the other hand, I should have my keep.”
“That is true, and of course is something; but
I think it may fairly be held to do no more than make
up for the advantages of living in London—your
classes, for instance.”
“Anyhow I must be paid so much a month, and
do what I can in the time. I couldn’t charge
by the individual job in a man’s own house!—The
thing I am afraid of is, that, not knowing the niceties
of the work, they may fancy I don’t do enough.”
“In the other way they would fancy you charged
too much, and that would come to the same thing!—But
they will at least discover that you keep to your
hours and stick to your work!—We must calculate
by what the best hands in the trade get a week!”
The terms they concluded to ask appeared to Lestrange
reasonable. He proposed then that Richard should
bind himself for not less than a year, while Lestrange
reserved the right of giving him a month’s notice;
and these points being willingly assented to by Richard,
an agreement was drawn up and signed—much
to the satisfaction of Simon Armour, whose first thought
was that the work would not be too hard for Richard
to want a little exercise at the forge after hours.
Richard, however, well as he liked the anvil, was
not so sure about this: there might be books to
read after he had done his day’s duty by their
garments! He had half laid out for himself a
plan of study in his leisure time, he said.
It was a lovely evening when he arrived at Mortgrange
from his grandfather’s. He was shown to
his new quarters in the old mansion by the housekeeper,
an elderly, worthy creature, with the air of a hostess.
She liked the young man; the honest friendliness of
his carriage pleased her. He was handsome too,
though not strikingly so, and his expression was better
than any handsomeness, inspiring the honest with confidence,
and giving little hope to the designing. His
brave outlook, not bold so much as fearless, and his
ready smile, seemed those of a man more prepared than
